Seymour Duncan parallel axis pickups.

Jaundice

Active member
I am curious to see if anyone has tried the Distortion parallel axis, or the regular one for that matter. I can't find any tone demos of it and it sounds like something I would like.
 
I put the Blues Saraceno one in a Hamer Diablo years ago because it was advertised as the perfect pickup to fatten up a bright guitar....dunno if I got a defective one or something but it was even thinner sounding than the stock JB. Haven't tried the others but that BS model turned me off for sure

Later on I put BG Darkbuckers in the Diablo and that was perfection and worked as advertised
 
I‘ve got the std Parallel Axis in a partscaster: alder body, non locking trem. Lots of signal, lots of clarity, no low end mud. But pretty ‘flat’ across the tonal spectrum in this particular guitar. No real spikes or dips as far as low, mid, high. Really even, balanced pickup. Let’s your guitar and amp sounds come through.
 

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I've had the PATB-1 set as well as the PATB-3. Great pickups. The PATB-1 is about JB output without the upper mid spike. Probably one of my favorite Duncan pickups. The PATB-3 is a PAF output style pickup. A bit more growl than a standard PAF though. Here are two clips of both pickups in the same guitar.



 
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The PATB-1 definitely hits the front of the amp harder at 16k. The PATB-3 is around 9k. More of an overwound PAF style pickup. I dig them both for different applications. For hot rodded super strat tones, the PATB-1 is hard to beat, IMHO.
Agree.

I ran them back in the 90's in my ESP Horizons. Nice overall sounding pickup. I eventually moved back to a JB's as those to me in those guitars had a little more harmonics, little sweeter sounding but I liked the PATB-1 just fine. I could have stayed with it and been happy. Solid pickup.
 
Had a PATB2 in a G&L Climaxx super strat years ago and liked it for metal.

Sold that guitar a while back and now have nothing but BKPs in all my guitars except one..my new Solar 6 string. Yanked the Duncan Solars and put the PATB1 in the bridge and the PATB3 in the neck. I am a die hard BKP convert, but have to say I missed the Duncan grind/grunt.

They are very clear..good sensitivity to the volume knob and pick. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I like the Saraceno in the neck....nice and full and still has definition. I like the PATB1 more than the 2...the 2 is just over the top...tends to squeal and seemed a touch smeary under a lot of gain. The 1 is a bit more grindy..the 2 is a bit more gritty. Both have very good presence and the bottom is chunky and tight.
Another bonus...great clean tones...both bridge and neck.
 
I've had the PATB-1 set as well as the PATB-3. Great pickups. The PATB-1 is about JB output without the upper mid spike. Probably one of my favorite Duncan pickups. The PATB-3 is a PAF output style pickup. A bit more growl than a standard PAF though. Here are two clips of both pickups in the same guitar.




I have the same chlorine burst charvel. Great guitar especially for the $500 I grabbed it for. I think the stock JB/59 fit it perfectly, but those vids sound good as well
 
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I've had all 3 - the PATB-3 I felt was a bit too scooped and low output for bridge but that's just personal taste. I LOVE it in the neck position though.

PATB-1 is my favorite because it's the most balanced. Can do high gain styles no problem but still cleans up. I sold my only PATB-2, I'd probably get another in the future but more for "hoarding" reasons than anything else - I felt it was a little congested feeling, for lack of a better word. It didn't have the air/upper mids that the PATB-1 had, but did have more output.
 
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